


Secret Admirer

by rainbowthefox



Category: The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
Genre: F/M, Pre-Relationship, Secret Admirer, Secret Crush, Secret Identity, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:42:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26401342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowthefox/pseuds/rainbowthefox
Summary: Sally tries to get Jack Skellington to realize her feelings, as his secret admirer.
Relationships: Sally/Jack Skellington
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	Secret Admirer

She was very nervous.

No, no - nervous was an _understatement_. She was completely **petrified**. Ever since she stepped foot out of that dismal tower, Sally Finklestein has felt unusually wobbly. Even now, as she stood before the steps of the Town Hall, she could feel her knees buckling from underneath her dress. Each movement she made was shaky, and as she went forward to climb the stairs, she clung onto the rails with such abnormal strength she normally couldn't fathom having. 

She tried her best to avoid the watchful gazes of those around her as she climbed the steps. It feels exhausting and every step seems like an obstacle. She must've looked so ignominious - desperately holding onto a piece of metal and climbing mere steps with shaky limbs. Sally practically threw herself into the doors as soon as she made it, all before holding onto the side of a chair as to not tumble onto the ground. The carpet and the world whirled around her. She can feel her eyes spinning in their sockets. 

_Breathe in. Breathe out. Like the Doctor told you._

She presses herself against the wall and conceals herself in the shadows. It's very easy to do - what with there being many. She waits until things focus, and then she finally sees the monsters around her. All wonderfully malformed and unique; she even notices a few of her friends in the building. There's a part of her that wants to come out of the shadows and greet them, but she refrains the urge. She's here on a mission - **her** mission. 

Slowly but surely, the ragdoll begins to slide herself against the wall. She starts to fear that it's making too much noise, but no one bothers to bat an eye in her direction. She manages to slip onto the stage and dart through the black, worn curtains. There, she is face-to-face with a few monsters that have more clearance than her. 

She does not belong here.

By instinct, she runs into the shadows again and holds her breath. She takes a moment to listen - listen to the voices, the steps, the noises. She waits to see if anyone has noticed her. No one approaches. She glances in both directions before climbing the wall until she comes to a doorway. With an uncertain and shaky hand, she clutches the end of the frame and slowly unveils her face out from the darkness. She takes a quick peek in the other room and finds herself frozen in place.

Jack Skellington. 

There, in all his glory, he stands. He's not in the middle of the room, but to the side. He's surrounded by and talking to a group of people. He's wearing a smile and conversing with them. She cannot make out the words he is saying, though she can hear his voice echoing in the back of her head. The same voice that has tantalized her dreams for the past month...

_Give it to him._

She suddenly becomes very enveloped in the darkness. It's always felt like a second home to her. She feels so comfortable being encased in nothing...as if she belongs there. Yet, she cannot deny the yearning feeling in her chest. A pull that's directing her to the Pumpkin King only a few feet away from her. She fights this magnetic pull as she sinks back into the darkness. There, she takes deep breaths and clutches the piece of paper to her chest.

She finds that she's holding onto it for dear life. As if the moment it'd leave her grasp, her whole world would fall apart. She feels so secure with it in her hands - as if it's her only support enabling her to stand. She stars to gnaw at her lip as her eyes dart back to his figure. His tall, lanky figure...she could feel the goosebumps climbing her back already. Her posture relaxes the more she studies him, and she finds her grip finally loosen.

But where should she put it? She can't bring herself the courage to give it to him herself...she wasn't supposed to _be_ here! 

Sally peeks her head into the doorway once more to glance around the room. She finds a stack of papers sitting on the edge of a table nearest to her - only a few steps away. She takes a deep breath before surfacing from the walls and running to the table. She stuffs the paper into the stack randomly and quickly returns to the shadows. She holds her breath as she listens for noise again, silently fearing that she may have been spotted.

...

...

Silence.

A sigh of relief. Then she's tense again. Now starts the waiting game. She lays herself flat against the wall and keeps her head close to the door frame. Every now and then, she takes a little peek before hiding herself again. Her eyes are locked on that stack of paper and nothing else...

\----------------------

"-And that's why I suggest we practice the scaring _before_ the decorating! That way, our citizens won't have to rely so much on props in order to scare!" 

"Mhm." His response was almost robotic. It goes unnoticed with the Mayor - nothing ordinarily different from the other times he's said it. He begins to write something down, pen ceaselessly scribbling away at the paper for a full minute or two. 

"And then we can have a little review afterwards! To improve performance! It should be another frightful year, I assure you!" 

Jack Skellington nods at this dismissively. It wasn't as if he doubted it. Halloween was _always_ frightful, wasn't it? There really wasn't much to it after you've mastered everything like he had. In fact, he could memorize nearly everything in under an hour or so - including the plans. Which makes it all too amusing to watch his colleague write his heart out on a mere piece of paper. As if retaining the information by itself was a step far too complicated to take. 

The skeleton pauses to observe the scene around him. He watches quietly as monsters scramble around the room, arms filled to the brim with papers. He begins to notice the tense atmosphere about them, including their stressed-induced postures and eyes. He feels a bit of pity for them - trapped in this relentless cycle of paperwork. He becomes so engulfed in his surroundings that he doesn't notice the Mayor trying to get his attention until he is suddenly nudged down on the side of his suit.

"Jack! Jack!" 

"Hm?" 

"Can you grab the pumpkin carving plans for me? I think I left them over there..." 

He finally notices the large stack of papers on one of the desks to their right - sticking out like a sore thumb compared to the other supplies on its surface. He nods his skull and begins to walk over to it. He finds himself distracted with the things he passes, discreetly peeking into the rooms and taking quick glances at the monsters housed as their desks. He feels that pity again - some remorse coming from the pit of his bones. As if something about it was relatable...

He almost misses the table entirely, catching himself just at the doorway. He comes to it and picks up the stack with his bony hand, gently resting it against his chest so it won't fall over in his hands. He gets an odd urge to look through them. Perhaps, in some disbelief, that the Mayor didn't organize them - or that something about it was off. As he stands there, he feels some sort of lingering presence about the room.

_Look through it._

Obeying the intruding thought in the back of his skull, he starts to flick through the papers with his bony finger. He doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary. As soon as he comes to the 5th page, he finds one of the papers notably different from the rest. Its surface is wrinkled and looks like it was shoved sloppily into the pile. 

"...Huh?" 

For a moment, he doesn't believe what he sees. But as soon as he grabs the paper, he notices how worn and damaged it is. It's not an ordinary work paper - which is usually fresh and often well-kept. He stops to set the stack back on the table and holds the note in both of his hands. With wide eye sockets, he reads:

**"Do you like me?  
[ ] Yes  
[ ] No  
~Your Secret Admirer"**

Jack's first instinct was to crumble the paper and throw it in the nearest trash can. He gets a ridiculous amount of these every week - though they're usually more obvious and not as discreet as this one. But the more he studied it, the more he found something familiar about it. The writing itself wasn't too sloppy, though he notices the slight jagged lines and the unsteady cursive. Then he catches a very faint scent...one he undeniably knew.

_Sally._

He looks around the room in search for his friend, but finds that she's nowhere to be seen. He doesn't see her red hair or blue skin and finds himself disappointed. He turns around and feels that disturbance again: a presence. It's somewhere near the end of the doorway. As he takes a step forward, he hears the Mayor calling out from behind him:

"The papers! Jack! Where are you going?"

"Oh, right." 

He stops mid-step and turns on his heel. He grabs the stack and only pauses once he realizes the note is still in his hand. Taking a final glance behind him, he tucks it into his suit's pocket and continues on his way. 

\------------

From the depths of the shadows, there was a sigh.


End file.
